NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Tuesday, September 19, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
-- Iran, US conclude prisoner swap agreement:
Iran on Monday completed a prisoner swap deal with the United States, which saw the release of five Iranian prisoners in the US in exchange for five American prisoners.
Under the deal, the five Americans were flown from Tehran to Qatar before transferring to flights to Washington, D.C.
The five Iranian detainees were identified as Mehrdad Moein Ansari, Kambiz Attar Kashani, Reza Sarhangpour Kofrani, Amin Hassanzadeh, and Kaveh Lotfollah Afrasiabi.
Two of the five Iranians imprisoned in the US arrived in Doha where they will later transit back home.
Nournews, affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Monday afternoon that Moein Ansari and Sarhangpour Kafrani are now in Doha, Qatar.
“Simultaneously, the three other Iranian prisoners who lived in the US have been freed,” the news outlet said.
The agreement also included the release of nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds which had been illegally blocked in South Korean banks since 2018 due to US sanctions.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Mohammad Reza Farzin said on Monday that funds have been transferred to the accounts of six Iranian lenders in two Qatari banks.
The US administration has insisted that Iran will only be allowed to use the money to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods. However, Iran has denied restrictions have been placed on the spending of funds. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has insisted that the money will allow Tehran to “purchase all non-sanctioned goods,” not just food and medicine.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi, who is currently in New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, underscored Tehran’s full authority over its assets, saying it is the Islamic Republic that decides how to spend the funds, and that the money will be spent “wherever we need it”.
-- Demand for Iranian drones much greater than production: Top general:
The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said that demand for the purchase of Iran’s homegrown sophisticated drones is much greater than the country’s production.
Speaking at a Monday conference in Tehran on the role of the Sacred Defense against the former Iraqi regime’s eight-year war on Iran in national security, the high-ranking general highlighted Iran’s dramatic progress in the defense industry, Press TV reported.
“Today, the number of customers of our drones are several times more than our production capacity,” Major General Baqeri said, adding that “major world powers” are vying to purchase Iranian weapons.
He also pointed out that once the Islamic Republic was banned from purchasing foreign-made weapons, but now it is faced with bans on the export of its domestically-developed military products.
Iran has turned into a “big drone power” that is outperforming major world powers, the commander added.
Last month, Defense Ministry spokesman also highlighted the increasing demand for Iran-made advanced unmanned aerial vehicles, revealing a strong interest from numerous countries in procuring these drones. “We have received numerous requests from various countries, notably from Western and European countries,” Reza Talaei-Nik said in August.
Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the Armed Forces self-sufficient.
Iranian officials have declared that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran’s defense capabilities will never be subject to negotiations.
-- Raeisi: UN should be voice of nations, not powers:
Iranian President Raeisi, who has traveled to the United States to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, said that the United Nations should be the voice of nations, not powers.
“Nations expect the United Nations to be an organization of ‘nations’ because if it becomes an organization of ‘states’, the voice of nations will not be heard,” he told reporters upon his arrival in New York on Monday.
Raeisi emphasized that the capacities of the UN and the General Assembly can be used to communicate the Iranian nation’s voice and outline the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy.
Raeisi stressed the importance of outlining the “important messages” of the Iranian nation’s achievements in the face of the enemies. He said the great nation of Iran has something to say in its demand for justice and rights, and the fight against discrimination and corruption.
Raeisi is scheduled to address the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He will also hold talks with senior officials from other countries and participate in separate meetings there.
The 78th UNGA session will take place on September 18-26. The presence of high-ranking officials from different countries at the annual event provides a good opportunity for international political consultations and bilateral dialogues.
-- Minister: Iran won’t let NATO presence in region:
The Iranian Defense Minister emphasized that his country is against NATO’s presence in the region, as well as any changes in the region’s geopolitics. Regarding the United States’ entry into the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the potential introduction of NATO forces in the region, Mohammadreza Ashtiani told ILNA, “We firmly oppose external interference in regional affairs”. He underscored Iran’s commitment to resolving regional issues through diplomatic channels and cooperation with neighboring countries.
Referring to recent tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the presence of Iranian forces on the border, Ashtiani affirmed that Iran does not accept any changes in the geopolitics of the region.
“While we maintain relations and engage with Armenia and Azerbaijan as our neighbors and partners, we actively contribute to the resolution of their issues,” he added.
Ashtiani also clarified that upcoming border exercises are routine annual drills with minimal relevance to the current geopolitical situation.
-- Iran finishes men’s third but work needs to be done for Paris:
Iranian weightlifting men’s team tallied 458 points to finish on the third podium at the IWF World Championships in Riyadh.
Still, there was little to cheer about for the country through the 14-day event, as eight members of the 10-man squad left the Saudi capital empty-handed, indicating the massive scale of the task facing the Iranians at the Paris Olympics in less than 12 months.
Armenia won the men’s title with 522 points, with China in the runner-up spot on 492 points.
On Sunday, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Ali Davoudi lifted a personal-high 249kg to take the clean & jerk bronze of the +109kg weight class, finishing fourth in total with 452kg.
Davoudi was desperately close to taking the C&J gold but failed with his final attempt at 255kg.
Double Olympic champion Lasha Talakhadze was clearly far from his best, mostly owing to a wrist problem, but still managed to bag a routine triple of golds for a sixth successive year.
The Georgian sensation made 220-253-473 ahead of Armenian Varazdat Lalayan on 212-248-460 and Bahrain’s Gor Minasyan on 213-246-459.
“The others are closing in on Lasha. The standard he showed today will not be enough anymore,” Georgian coach Giorgi Asanidze said.
“He was not at his very best here, but the only thing that mattered today was for him to be champion again. He will have to regain top form next time.”
Ayat Sharifi was the other Iranian in the superheavyweight class, though he bombed out after three failed attempts in the C&J event while struggling with a knee injury.
Davoudi’s bronze saw Iran end in the 10th place of the medal table.
Mirmostafa Javadi had stunned Chinese duo Li Dayin and Tian Tao to claim the C&J and total golds in the 89kg contests earlier in Riyadh.
China dominated the standings with a remarkable 33 medals – including 20 golds, with Thailand (9) and Egypt (7) in the following spots.
-- Tens of thousands rallied in New York demanding end of fossil fuels:
Tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday rallied to kick off a week where leaders will try once again to curb climate change primarily caused by coal, oil and natural gas.
But protesters say it’s not going to be enough, Associated Press reported.
They aimed their wrath directly at US President Joe Biden, urging him to stop approving new oil and gas projects, phase out current ones and declare a climate emergency with larger executive powers.
“We hold the power of the people, the power you need to win this election,” said 17-year-old Emma Buretta of Brooklyn of the youth protest group Fridays for Future. “If you want to win in 2024, if you do not want the blood of my generation to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”
The March to End Fossil Fuels featured such politicians as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actors Susan Sarandon, Ethan Hawke, and Edward Norton.
But the real action on Broadway was where protesters crowded the street, pleading for a better but not-so-hot future. It was the opening salvo to New York’s Climate Week, where world leaders in business, politics and the arts gather to try to save the planet, highlighted by a new special United Nations summit Wednesday.
Many of the leaders of countries that cause the most heat-trapping carbon pollution will not be in attendance. And they won’t speak at the summit organized by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a way that only countries that promise new concrete action are invited to speak.
Organizers estimated 75,000 people marched Sunday.
“We have people all across the world in the streets, showing up, demanding a cessation of what is killing us,” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd. “We have to send a message that some of us are going to be living on, on this planet 30, 40, 50 years from now. And we will not take no for an answer.”
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- Envoy Holds Talks With Senior Saudi Minister:
Iran’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alireza Enayati, and Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Ali Al-Yousef discussed issues of mutual interest on Monday.
They exchanged views on the issues of establishing a consular committee, developing quadrilateral consular agreements, the status of prisoners, and facilitating visas. In March 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement in China announcing that they would resume their diplomatic relations after seven years of tensions.
-- Drone Crashes During Test Flight:
A military drone crashed during a test flight in northern Iran on Monday, wounding two people and damaging buildings, reports said.
Debris fell in different parts of the northern city of Gorgon, according to the official IRNA news agency. Defense Ministry spokesman Reza Talaeinik told national TV that the test flight in a remote area went off track due to a “technical failure.”
-- U.S. Surpasses 500 Mass Shootings in 2023:
The United States surpassed 500 mass shootings in 2023 over the weekend, according to the data from the Gun Violence Archive.
As of Sunday, the Gun Violence Archive reported 501 mass shootings so far in 2023, after a shooting in Denver, Colo. Saturday night marked the 500th mass shooting of the year.
According to Denver Police Department, the shooting sent four people to the hospital, and a fifth victim was later discovered. All of the individuals are expected to survive, and no arrests were made as of Sunday morning, police said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another shooting was later reported in El Paso, Texas around 1 a.m. on Sunday, killing a 19-year-old man and injuring five others, KTSM in El Paso reported. One of the wounded individuals was in critical condition, according to KTSM.
A mass shooting in Monterey Park, California last January marked this year’s deadliest shooting, where a total of 11 people were killed and 10 others were injured at a dance studio following a Lunar New Year celebration.
Data from the Gun Violence Archive — which logs mass shootings in cases where there are four or more individuals wounded or killed in a shooting—found the total number of mass shootings in 2023 is so far lower than the past three years’ totals, but already higher than in 2019, which had 414 mass shootings and in 2018, which had 335 mass shootings.
2021 had the highest-ever number of mass shootings in the U.S. with 689 reported mass shootings, the Gun Violence Archive’s data shows. The number of mass shootings fell in 2022 to 645, although FBI data showed a rise in the total number of Americans wounded in such events between 2021 and 2022.
The FBI defines a mass shooting as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area,” a definition that varies from other metrics that focus on the number of total victims in evaluating a shooting.
Even with last year’s drop, FBI officials said the past two decades have seen an overall rise in the number of mass shootings, regardless of the criteria used to make the assessment.
A January shooting on the eve of Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California, a largely Asian American area, has caused the most deaths so far in 2023. Eleven people were killed and nine others injured in the massacre.
The most injuries related to gun violence occurred in April at a birthday party shooting in Dadeville, Ala., that left four people dead and 32 others injured.
With increasing personal experiences, more Americans view gun violence as a public health concern. One in six Americans have personally witnessed someone being shot, according to survey data from earlier this year.
Gun violence has greatly affected children. Firearms are the top killer of kids in the country. Gun deaths among children hit a record high in 2021, per data released in August.
There were 305 school shootings in 2022 and 230 by Sept. 5 in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
-- U.S. Finally Submits to Iran’s Humanitarian Push:
The United States and Iran on Monday carried out a prisoner swap agreement that included freeing five Iranians who were unjustly detained in the United States.
Two of the Iranians in the swap were identified as Mehrdad Moein Ansari and Reza Sarhangpour who had arrived in the Qatari capital and were heading home.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told reporters in Tehran that two other Iranian prisoners would stay in the U.S. at their own request and the fifth would join his family in a third country.
“After a successful team effort, five innocent Iranian compatriots in American prisons will be free today and two of them will enter Tehran via Doha,” Gharibabadi wrote on his X account.
“The High Council for Human Rights, alongside the government and the judiciary, will remain determined to uphold the rights of Iranians abroad,” he added.
The other Iranians charged with nonviolent crimes in the United States were Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, Amin Hasanzadeh and Kambiz Attar Kashani.
Afrasiabi and Hasanzadeh are permanent U.S. residents, while Kashani is an Iranian national.
Ansari and Kashani were serving federal prison sentences, while Afrasiabi, Hasanzadeh and Sarhangpour were on supervised pre-trial release.
The prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S. was brokered by Qatar. It followed two years of indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
The Islamic Republic has emphasized that the exchange of prisoners is a completely humanitarian issue.
The Iranians had been held in American jails illegally and under the pretext of violating U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Biden Administration officials said despite the prisoner swap, the United States is issuing new sanctions on Iran. Those sanctioned include Iran’s intelligence ministry and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The officials still said the door for diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program was not entirely shut.
“If we see an opportunity, we will
explore it but right now, I’ve really nothing to talk about,” a senior administration official was quoted as saying.
Three of the Americans in the swap were identified as Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, who along with the other two Americans were under house arrest pending the transfer.
“I am grateful to our partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome, including the Governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland, and
South Korea,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Senior Biden administration officials told reporters the logistics of the swap involved a Qatari plane traveling from Iran to Doha carrying the five freed Americans.
Meanwhile, Central Bank of Iran Governor Muhammad Reza Farzin confirmed that the U.S. had to allow South Korea to release Iranian funds totaling some $6 billion and that the assets have now been transferred to Qatari banks.
The $6 billion had been held in South Korea, one of Iran’s largest oil customers, as a result of a waiver issued by the Trump administration in 2018 that permitted Seoul to continue purchasing Iran’s oil. Those funds became stuck in 2019 when the Trump administration tightened sanctions on Iran.
Over the last week, in preparation for the deal to be finalized, those funds were converted from Korean currency to euros before being moved to accounts in Qatar.
Farzin said the funds had been deposited into the accounts of six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Al Ahli and Al Dukhan banks.
The six Iranian banks namely Keshavarzi, Saman, Pasargad, Tourism, Karafarin and Shahr opened accounts in Qatar after the country’s funds in two South Korean banks in Seoul were transferred on August 10 to the account of Swiss National Bank (SNB) for conversion into euros.
“We received an official letter from the Qatari authorities yesterday, according to which the accounts of Iranian banks had been activated, and today, 5.573 billion and 492,000 euros have been deposited into the accounts of six Iranian banks at two banks, Al Ahli and Al Dukhan,” the chief banker said.
Farzin underlined that the released funds are viewed as the foreign currency reserves of the Central Bank of Iran that will be spent in accordance with national interests and to strengthen the rial.
He said access to Iran’s foreign exchange resources is being pursued in several other countries and the results will be announced when finalized.
In New York, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, Raisi’s aides say that Iran will push the U.S. to see if the prisoner swap can lead to wider de-escalation in the region.
The obvious place to start would be Yemen. Yemen’s Ansrallah delegation was in Riyadh last week for unprecedented peace talks. But Biden would also like to see an elusive normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the occupying regime of Israel, something the U.S. president will discuss with the Zionist prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, when they meet in New York.
-- FM Lavrov: U.S. Controls War in Ukraine:
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blasted the U.S. for waging a proxy war in Ukraine. The Washington-led North Atlantic alliance has transferred nearly $100 billion in military aid to Kyiv. Lavrov said the White House was controlling Ukraine’s military decisions.
At the Eastern Economic Forum, the Russian diplomat explained Moscow’s position. “No matter what it says, it [the U.S.] controls this war, it supplies weapons, munitions, intelligence information, data from satellites, it is pursuing a war against us,” Lavrov said.
According to the Kiel Institute, the U.S. and its allies have transferred slightly under $100 billion in weapons to Ukraine since the start of the war. Additionally, the West has trained thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and provided Kyiv with other military support, such as targeting and intelligence.
Lavrov said the proxy war the West is waging against Russia in Ukraine was a long-planned effort aimed at Moscow’s strategic defeat. He stated, “While what is going on is that Ukraine has been prepared, has long been prepared for inflicting strategic defeat to Russia using its hands and its bodies.”
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported the White House was considering escalating support for Ukraine by sending long-range ATACMS missiles with a range of 190 miles.
Lavrov was asked how Moscow may respond if Washington provides Kyiv with the rockets. “I am unable to comment on their statements… but the fact that it will not change the essence of what is going on in Ukraine is obvious,” he explained.
The UK has previously sent Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, with a range of about 300 miles. Ukraine has used those long-range weapons to attack the Crimean Peninsula. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington no longer objects to Kyiv using Western-provided weapons to launch an attack on Russian territory.
In separate comments made on Friday, Lavrov said Washington’s effort extends beyond the proxy war in Ukraine to a global campaign to isolate Moscow. He explained that the West attempted to use a recent peace summit held in Saudi Arabia to turn countries against Russia.
“There is a real plot around the topic of the so-called (peace) negotiations, as well as attempts to turn everything upside down through pseudo diplomacy,” he said.
“The West has been saying for months that this ‘peace formula’ is the only basis for negotiations. It starts from innocent topics … and then comes to the purpose for
which it was concocted – inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, to restore the borders of Ukraine as they were in 1991, court-martial the Russian leadership, force Russia to pay reparations, and then ‘mercifully’ agree to sign a peace agreement.”
He added, “These are exactly the dirty methods that the West uses not only in relation to Ukraine but in many other areas of global politics.”
Last month, a summit was held in Jeddah on the Ukraine war. The conference was billed as a peace summit, but Russian officials were not invited. At the summit, Kyiv was allowed to present its proposal with no counter from Moscow.
Lavrov said the Kremlin is open to talks, and the Russian position has not changed. Moscow is demanding territorial concessions, as well as Kyiv’s agreement to hold a neutral status and accept some demilitarization.
Lavrov said “all the balls” are on the side of Kyiv, explaining that Russia is waiting for Ukraine to open talks on terms acceptable to Moscow.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Iran’s €5.57b frozen assets unblocked:
The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that €5.573 billion of the country’s frozen assets has been unblocked. Mohammadreza Farzin announced the deposit of €5.573 billion from Iran’s blocked resources to the accounts of six Iranian banks in Al-Ahli and Dukhan banks in Qatar Speaking in a TV program, the official said that on August 10 of this year, all inaccessible Iranian funds that were kept in South Korean banks and the Seoul branch of Bank Mellat were transferred to the account of the Swiss Central Bank to be converted into euros. He stated that during this period, Keshavarzi, Saman, Pasargad, Tourism, Shahr, and Karafarin banks opened accounts in the two mentioned Qatari banks, and added: “According to the agreements, all payments were made by brokers of Qatari banks as well as SWIFT.” “Yesterday we received an official letter from the Qatari authorities that six bank accounts have been activated and today 5.573 million euros were deposited into the bank accounts”, Farzin announced.
-- DPRK, Russia defiant in face of US aggression:
Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un departed Russia on Sunday after spending one week in the country. A video, published by Russian media, shows Kim walking on a red carpet to a train that took him back to the DPRK amid the sounds of a military band. During his week-long visit, Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin. They discussed deepening cooperation, the war in Ukraine, and international developments. Putin took Kim on a tour of Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site.
-- Scientific journals expected not to mix medical issues with politics:
On September 16, the Lancet journal published an article titled “Offline: Mahsa Amini—never forget”. The scientific journal followed in the footsteps of the Western media outlets pertaining to the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The West has abandoned all professional and moral standards in facing the Iran issue. The New York Times published an article titled “Iran’s Supreme Leader Cancels Public Appearances After Falling.” It was published amid the unrest in Iran in September 2022. It added that Ayatollah Khamenei was on bed rest and under observation by a team of doctors, which was just a rumor. The Lancet, though a medical journal, narrated the death of Mahsa Amini way much different from the real story. It seems the scientific journal is following in the footsteps of the hardliners. Ignorant of the Iranian officials’ reports, documents, CCTV cameras, and medical records, Western media outlets kept spreading rumors about her death and released fake news to provoke the Iranian people and fuel the unrest that erupted in September 2022.
-- Demand for Iranian drones outpacing supply: military chief:
Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, announced on Monday that the demand for the purchase of Iran’s sophisticated drones is far higher than production. “Today, the number of customers of our drones are several times more than our production capacity,” General Baqeri said, adding that “major world powers” are vying to purchase Iranian weapons. Speaking at a symposium in Tehran on the importance of the eight-year Sacred Defense in defending Iran, the high-ranking general said stated that the Islamic Republic was previously prohibited from acquiring foreign-made weaponry, but is now facing limitations on the export of its domestically manufactured military equipment. The commander noted that Iran has evolved into a “big drone power” that is outperforming other major countries. The armed forces are now self-sufficient thanks to extraordinary advancements made in recent years by Iranian military specialists and engineers in the manufacture of a wide variety of indigenous equipment.
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